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Matt Taibbi

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Famous Matt Taibbi Quotes

“If you look back in history, as the barbarians were invading the gates of Rome, people were consulting fortunetellers and worrying about the end of the world and all sorts of other apocalyptic notions. When the tsars were finally overthrown, they were all reading tarot cards even as the revolutionaries were banging at the gates.”

PeopleIfsWorldLooksEndsReadingWorryNotionCardsRevolutionaryGatesRomeEnd Of The WorldBarbariansApocalypticConsultingBangingTarotInvadingTarot Cards
Author:Matt Taibbi
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“The threat posed by Bank of America isn't just financial - it's a full-blown assault on the American dream. Where's the incentive to play fair and do well, when what we see rewarded at the highest levels of society is failure, stupidity, incompetence and meanness? If this is what winning in our system looks like, who doesn't want to be a loser?”

IfsWantWellsLooksPlayDreamAmericaWinningLevelsHighestFairsThreatFinancialStupidityLoserAmerican DreamAssaultIncentivesIncompetenceMeanness
Author:Matt Taibbi
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“Most people, when they imagine New England, think about old colonial homes, white houses with black shutters, whales, and sexually morbid WASPs with sensible vehicles and polite political opinions. This is incorrect. If you want to get New England right, just imagine a giant mullet in paint-stained pants and a Red Sox hat being pushed into the back of a cruiser after a bar fight.”

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Author:Matt Taibbi
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“The basic scam in the Internet age is pretty easy even for the financially illiterate to grasp. It was as if banks like Goldman were wrapping ribbons around watermelons, tossing them out fiftieth-story windows, and opening the phones for bids. In this game you were a winner only if you took your money out before the melon hit the pavement.”

IfsStoriesAgeGamesEasyInternetWindowPhonesOpeningWinnerIlliterateRibbonsPavementWrappingScamsMelons
Book:Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
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“The mistake our politicians so often make with these industry leaders is in thinking they are interested in, or respectful of, the power of government. All they want is to keep stealing. If you can offer them the government’s seal of approval on that, they’ll take it. But if you can’t, well, they’ll take that too.”

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Book:Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America
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“There really are two Americas, one for the grifter class and one for everybody else. In everybody-else land, the world of small businesses and wage-earning employees, the government is something to be avoided, an overwhelming, all-powerful entity whose attentions usually presage some kind of financial setback, if not complete ruin. In the grifter world, however, government is a slavish lapdog that the financial companies that will be the major players in this book use as a tool for making money.”

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Author:Matt Taibbi
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